The party theme was from the Australian TV series Underbelly Razor. Underbelly Razor depicted the real events of the the two rivalved vice queens (Tilly Devine a former prostitute turned Madame coordinating Sydney’s Sex Trade and Kate Leigh a bootlegging honcho) and Sydney’s underbelly razor gangs. You can read more about it here at Wiki 🙂 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underbelly:_Razor

When Mr Useful told me about the party and that it was going to have a huge budget and the concept was going to be the “Underbelly” theme, well, I was pretty excited to go. Afterall, as I’ve said before, I am a tad shallow and it was never going to be a huge stretch to dress up as a 1920s hooker, heh. Unfortunately, due to a family illness, I had only a few days to prepare for this one. It also clashed with a similar event in Sydney the Gangsters and Moles Ball so by the time I hit the costume hire shops they range of 1920s style clothing was pretty picked over. Boo! Anyway, there was still some stuff left and the helpful girl at ACE costume hire in Petersham assisted in coordinating a suitable outfit. She explained to me my outfit was going to be more flapper than “Underbelly” call girl because the silks and fabrics of the era do not work well in a hire costume environment, they come back a bit wrecked looking and also that the TV show would have had a pretty good costume budget, not something most people are generally bothered investing in for a one night party.
She also recommended thinking of a name for the character that you become. Naming a 1920s Ho alter-ego was always going to be fun.

Saturday night arrived and my character “Scarlett Love” was created. Mr Useful arrived to pick me up, he was looking pretty sharp dressed as a gangster/ hustler type crook and we met some of his friends for pre-party drinks and to share a taxi down to the Locomotive Workshop, Exhibition Centre at Eveleigh. It was cool meeting Mr Us friends at their hotel all dressed up in 1920s costume, we all got a few sly glances from the more modernly attired guests. I think we all enjoyed the attention.

Arriving at the party itself was a buzzy affair. Everyone had made an effort to dress up and the company had (given the party was held at the Locomotive workshop) organised props like 1920s cars that you could go and sit in and take photos etc. Drinks were flowing and everyone was chatting and getting happy, that was the cue for a 1920s policeman to enforce prohibition and we were all moved off to jail which doubled as the dining, dance and speeches area.

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By now I was enjoying myself very much. I was talking to Mr U, Mr Us friends and the lady seated next to me who worked in a high level position in Health. an extravagent three course dinner was served, there were speeches and entertainment by the 12 piece ‘Big Ol’ Bus Band’ and the “Darling Diamond Dolls Show”.

The fund raising part of the evening was for the E.J.Whitten Foundation who do a stellar job raising money for prostrate cancer which it seems unfortunately has over taken breast cancer in recent times in fatalities because men do not like to go to the doctor. So if you are reading this and you are male and over 40 or have any history of prostrate cancer in your family, please think about getting checked soon, it’s important. The lady sitting next to me who worked in health backed up the statistics with impressive factual knowledge and also mentioned that brain cancer is another one coming through because of people talking on mobile phones.

After the sexy floor show by the “Darling Diamond Dolls” I was feeling pretty frisky, and I encouraged Mr Useful up for a couple of dances before suggesting we slink off to try out “Scarlett Loves” skill set. Mr U had taken advantage of the companys hotel arrangement and we made our way back to the Mercure for a fun night of “underbelly” inspired passion.